Monday, December 15, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

SHOOTING STARS: `CSI' sweeps back into town for more local production

Be it ever so flashy, there's no place like home.

Even if "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" only makes it home a few times a year.

But with a sweeps month looming in February, "CSI" hits town this week to soak up some veritable Vegas atmosphere.

Filming takes place here today through Wednesday on "Suckers," the 14th episode of the "CSI's" fourth season.

"It's our `caper' episode," according to Las Vegan Anthony Zuiker, "CSI's" creator and executive producer, who notes that the show centers on "a Steve Wynn-like casino owner."

Co-written by longtime "CSI" director Danny Cannon and Josh Berman, directed by Cannon, the three-day shoot brings "CSI's" original regulars to town: William Petersen (alias CSI chief Gil Grissom), Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows), Gary Dourdan (Warwick Brown), George Eads (Nick Stokes), Jorja Fox (Sara Sidel) and Paul Guilfoyle (Jim Brass).

All but Petersen were expected in town Sunday night for a Vanity Fair party at Bellagio's Light nightclub.

"Vanity Fair is throwing us a party -- how cool is that?" Zuiker enthuses.

Cool indeed -- and at a venue considerably more upscale, we presume, than today's first "CSI" location: the Palomino Club, which for "CSI" purposes will be transformed into a goth-style lair.

Also on today's "CSI" itinerary: the Hollywood Props warehouse, with the props providing an ideal backdrop for a character who crafts artifacts adorning various Vegas casinos.

Speaking of casinos, Tuesday's "CSI" schedule shifts to Green Valley Ranch, where the swimming pool serves as the setting for a flashback scene. (Let's hope they can flash back to warmer temperatures while they're filming.) And on Wednesday, Caesars Palace welcomes "CSI" for scenes on the casino floor and in the Presidential Suite.

Still riding high atop the TV ratings, the CBS juggernaut already has spawned "CSI: Miami" and may expand to a third city as well.

"If I were a gambling man, I'd bet on it happening sooner rather than later," according to Zuiker, who reports that show executives currently are discussing the possibilities with CBS president Les Moonves. "Nothing's been determined," Zuiker adds. Not yet, anyway. But "there's a pretty good possibility it will happen in the future -- and it shall be fun," he says.

In the immediate future, however, "we're going to have the best sweeps period ever in February," Zuiker predicts. "We have some really big monsters (episodes) coming up."

Coming up even more quickly: a holiday break for the "CSI" folks, who are off until January once shooting wraps Wednesday, Zuiker reports.

On Thursday at Bellagio, meanwhile, the Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour" checks in to catch the action at the final table of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Now in its second season, the show will return to Las Vegas in April for the tour's world championships, according to the show's Melissa Feldman.

Speaking of the world, Australia's Channel Seven also visits Vegas this week as its "Great Outdoors" travel series stops by the Fremont Street Experience Thursday to capture some local color.

In part, the visit serves as a cross-promotion for one of Channel Seven's latest series attractions: NBC's steamy "Las Vegas." (And while we're on the subject, that set-in-Vegas series is scheduled to revisit its home turf in January.)

Besides, "something like 50 percent of Aussie tourists who go to the U.S. go to Vegas, so it's always popular," points out show researcher Stephen Vagg.

Court TV, meanwhile, gets away from Glitter Gulch -- far away -- for a pilot tracking trackers.

Red Brick Entertainment will be in Nelson -- at the Werly residence, the old Texaco gas station and the Techatticup Mine -- to shoot the untitled pilot, which features two real-life trackers following a pair of make-believe fugitives across the wilderness.

Back in town, Canada's Toronto-based On the Line Productions continues a six-day shoot through Tuesday on "Vegas Unveiled," a 22-minute TV documentary focusing on Las Vegas' wedding chapel industry.

Inspired by a newspaper article, the documentary will "show different sides" of the wedding industry, including "some of the controversy, such as handbilling at the courthouse," according to producer Jennifer Pashkovsky.

And R&B singer Aaron Hall (a former member of the '90s group Guy) arrives Thursday for work on a music video that began filming Monday in Los Angeles.

After shooting Thursday night on the Strip, production is expected to resume Friday at a local beauty salon. (The latter location hadn't been finalized at press time.)

The Discovery Channel's "Monster House," meanwhile, continues its second week of filming -- at a second location, this one in the Huntridge area -- as participants transform an ordinary abode into a themed residence.

Also on the hometown front, "The Dan Show" -- a new comedy series debuting Jan. 16 on KVVU-TV, Channel 5 -- began shooting Saturday at the Fremont Street Experience.

The hidden-camera comedy and entertainment show will feature, among other skits, fake news stories intended to fool innocent bystanders, explains Dan Shermondy, "The Dan Show's" namesake host and producer.

The 13-week series, which will run at 1 a.m. Fridays on Las Vegas' Fox affiliate, has been in the works "about six months," according to Shermondy. He came to Las Vegas from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. "Where the firsts were," he notes. Unlike Las Vegas, "where the air is clean and the women are cool."